PEORIA — The Easter Sunday recovery operation is the story behind the numbers that make OSF Saint Francis Medical Center the top organ-donor hospital in 2013 for the 185-hospital area covered by Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network.

A 5-year-old boy suffered a tragic trampoline accident. “We were going to lose him and the possibility of recovering the organs,” said Kevin Scmunt, president and CEO of Gift of Hope said Tuesday.

But the relationship between St. Francis and Gift of Hope, along with the support of Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll, helped turn tragedy into the gift of organ donations, Scmunt told dozens of people, including Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, gathered at St. Francis for a special program to celebrate the honor.

That St. Francis had “the most organ donors, the most tissue donors to help save the most lives speaks to partnerships,” Scmunt said.

St. Francis has earned the top organ-donor hospital distinction for 23 of the 26 years Gift of Hope, a not-for-profit organ procurement agency, has existed.

In 2013, St. Francis tallied 77 organs from 24 donors and tissue donations from 65 people, which helped 1,500 others. As the area’s only Level I Trauma Center, St. Francis is more likely to see patients who might be potential organ donors. Overall, Gift of Hope recovered 923 organs from 323 organ donors last year.

Morgan D’Organ, Gift of Hope’s inflatable liver-shaped mascot, visited patients at Children’s Hospital of Illinois as part of the celebration of St. Francis and National Donate Life Month. Carrie Stephen, a physicians assistant in pediatric surgery who underwent a double lung transplant last year, helped organize the visit.

Alana Melendez, a 5-year-old from Sheridan, mistook the pink, plastic, inflated liver — worn by a St. Francis employee — for bubblegum. “He was so nice to me,” she said.

Pam Adams can be reached at 686-3245 or padams@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @padamspam.